Mosquitoes are vectors of several medically-important arboviruses and parasites that are currently emerging and/or re-emerging around the globe. The diseases caused by these pathogens include, for example, dengue fever, chikungunya fever, malaria, yellow fever, and Zika virus. Vaccines for these diseases have not been developed (e.g., Zika), are not widely-available (e.g., dengue), or are limited in their supply (e.g., yellow fever). Thus, avoiding mosquito bites is the primary strategy to preventing transmission of these diseases.
While the application of insecticides and elimination of larval breeding sites are key components to managing mosquito populations, the use of repellents provides an important level of personal protection to minimize the chances of mosquito bites. However, the list of EPA-registered repellents that are recommended by the CDC for preventing mosquito bites is currently limited to N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET), picaridin, para-methane-diol (oil of lemon eucalyptus), and IR3535. Moreover, DEET, which is considered the “gold standard” for a repellent, has some important drawbacks. For example, DEET can dissolve plastics and mosquitoes can also become resistant to it. What is needed are new compounds, compositions, and methods to increase the diversity of active ingredients for developing novel mosquito repellents in order to help limit the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.
The compounds, compositions, and methods disclosed herein address these and other needs.